1. Field
The present invention relates generally to graphical user interfaces and displays of a system and, more specifically, to screen savers for system displays.
2. Description
Screen savers are programs that provide images for a display when a system is not in use to help avoid long term damage to the display. If a single image is continuously shown on a display for a long period of time, the image may be "burned in" to the components of the display. Other images subsequently shown on the display may then appear blurry or otherwise at least partially obscured due to the image burn-in. To overcome this, screen savers are commonly used. Screen savers typically provide a series of images to the display, often with entertaining effect. Screen savers are usually activated when a user-specified time period has passed after the last input event to the system, such as a keyboard action or a mouse click, for example. Screen savers are usually deactivated once an input device, such as a keyboard or mouse is used again.
The displays of video conferencing systems are also susceptible to image burn-in. Many video conferencing systems do not have a screen saver. For those video conferencing systems with a screen saver, traditional screen savers often are activated at inconvenient times (e.g., during a conference call or presentation) due to a lack of input events, although a video conferencing session may be active. This distracts users from their work, presentation, or conference call on which they are trying to interact.
What is needed is a method of implementing a screen saver that overcomes these deficiencies of existing video conferencing systems.